It's been a "Goodbye" with - as the Germans say - "a laughing and a crying eye". After over 15 years, Kelley Theatre Director Brett Harwood left Stuttgart end of August 2008 to join the staff of historical Richardson Theatre, Hawaii. With a big party, crew and cast of KELLEY THEATRE said "goodbye" to Brett, his wife Ingrid and their two children, Bastian and Nicolas. For the four of them, it's a new start in a place, most only can dream about, and Brett will face new challenges in one of Hawaiis most well-established theatres. For us at KELLEY THEATRE, it's loosing a good friend and great director. We wish him all the best in his new job - as you can see, he's already more than well prepared for Hawaii...

Brett has led KELLEY THEATRE to a whole new level in performance quality, starting from "Cabaret" and finishing with acclaimed productions of record-breaking "Urinetown", "Les Misérables" and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels". His work was also most acknowledged by media, press and professionals from the theatre business. One reviewer wrote in his Season 2007 summary: "If you desist from Vienna (Kammperoper, Vereinigte Buehnen), in the past only majorly privately funded theatres have distinguished themselves as hotspots for modern musical theatre: the "Neukoelln" opera Berlin, Kelley Theatre Stuttgart and, rudimentally, Wechselbad Dresden and English Theatre Frankfurt".

So: who's the new guy at KELLEY THEATRE?

With Brett leaving, KELLEY THEATRE had to look for a new Theatre Director. We found him in Richard Roberts. Richard comes to Stuttgart from USAG-Kaiserslautern, where he has spent the last year and a half as Entertainment Director. Prior to that he worked at Roadside Theater in Heidelberg.

He first joined the Army Entertainment Program as a guest director at the Roadside, directing PROPOSALS, which took the TOPPER Award as Best Comedy. His other Roadside shows include: TWELFTH NIGHT, THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL, GREATER TUNA, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and HAY FEVER (which won TOPPERS as Best Comedy and Best Director). In Kaiserslautern, the KMC Onstage world premier production of the One-Act, CONVERSATIONS ON RUSSIAN LITERATURE (in which Richard was an actor) took the Best Play Award at the 2007 IMCOM-E Festival of One-Act Plays. His other K-Town Productions include RUMORS, A SHAKESPEARE SAMPLER (which he adapted and directed), THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF AMERICA (abridged), HONK!, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM and TO KILLL A MOCKINGBIRD (which won the TOPPER Award in 2008 as Best Drama and earned Richard his second directing Award).

Also an actor, he has appeared on the Army Stage as Hysterium in A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, Lyman in BUS STOP, Frank Dole in 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD, and the role which wouldn't die: The Stepmother in CINDERELLA (ask him about that sometime!), all at Roadside Theater.

Before landing at Roadside, Richard spent many years as an actor, director and acting coach in New York, Chicago, Memphis and Dallas. Richard also teaches: He has held Workshops in Acting, Directing, Stage Make-Up, Stage Management at Roadside and KMC Onstage. He says: " I am thrilled to become a part of the Stuttgart family"!